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This chapter explores memory as a constructive process occurring at the intersection of a person and their social-cultural world. To do this, it moves away from the traditional metaphor of memory as storage and develops the alternative metaphor of construction. The foundations for this approach are found in Lev Vygotsky’s theory of mediation and microgenesis, together with Frederic Bartlett’s notion of reconstructive remembering and methods of repeated and serial reproduction. Their ideas are combined to develop an approach that analyzes remembering as part of an evolving cultural process, one that is also often conflictual and transformative. This approach is illustrated with studies of the emergence of memories in conversation, the narrative mediation of memory, the role of social positioning, and the dynamics of urban memory during periods of radical social change.

Izabela Wagner’s biography of Bauman’s life offers a rich and extensive trajectory of how a young Jewish pole became an influential global thinker. The book invites one to reflect upon how Bauman’s rich personal life story has drove his sociological analysis of our contemporary society. Wagner illustrates how his repeated exile and life ruptures have provided him with an intersubjective and critical eye onto the social struggles and injustices he tackled eloquently in his work. Though Bauman repeatedly argued; ‘there was nothing unusual about my case’ (40) ‘many people went through all those turbulences. I am just a typical product of my times’ (401), his biography narrates a life that is far from ‘usual.’

An array of Egyptian lifeworlds in 2016

The interest in street art has long involved a wide range of urban visual expressions such as murals, graffiti, tagging, and even urban defacement. These diverse aesthetic forms of expression have therefore attracted numerous theoretical and methodological approaches. Some analyse it from the standpoint of street art as an illegal act of vandalism, some as a political act of resistance, and some as a form of art and a new cultural capital. From a sociocultural psychology perspective street art could be analysed as a social act that intervenes in the urban space, thus opening up possibilities for individuals to shape their environment, and in turn having that new environment with its new affordances shape individuals back. This entry will discuss different conceptualizations of street art, especially looking at how the definition of street art has developed over time. Then it will outline some of the methodological approaches to analysing street art within visual culture. The entry focuses in particular on political messages of street art rather than their artistic forms, and the possibilities those messages could open up in visual culture and public discourse. The interest in street art has long involved a wide range of urban visual expressions such as murals, graffiti, tagging, and even urban defacement. These diverse aesthetic forms of expression have therefore attracted numerous theoretical and methodological approaches. Some analyse it from the standpoint of street art as an illegal act of vandalism, some as a political act of resistance, and some as a form of art and a new cultural capital. From a sociocultural psychology perspective street art could be analysed as a social act that intervenes in the urban space, thus opening up possibilities for individuals to shape their environment, and in turn having that new environment with its new affordances shape individuals back. This entry will discuss different conceptualizations of street art, especially looking at how the definition of street art has developed over time. Then it will outline some of the methodological approaches to analysing street art within visual culture. The entry focuses in particular on political messages of street art rather than their artistic forms, and the possibilities those messages could open up in visual culture and public discourse.

This paper looks at images of political caricatures published between the years of 1926 and 1931 in two Egyptian newspapers: al-Kashkūl and al-Siyāsa al-Usbu‘iyya. This marks a unique time in Egyptian national discourse when it was seeking to secure complete political independence from British occupation. This period falls in the interwar period between WWI and WWII. Before it was the 1919 revolution against British occupation, which led to Egypt nominal independence 1922, and the implementation of a new constitution. And following this period was the 1952 revolution, which led to the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy and complete independence from the British occupation.The visual analysis of the 322 caricatures aims to interpret the meanings embodied in those images in relation to the nation. The lens of social and cultural psychology is used to understand the politics of these images in visually constructing national identity, positioning different social actors in the social and political context, and feeding into an enduring national discourse about the agency of the people and the nation. Themes of the analysis reflect on concepts of visibility, national identity, agency, and the representation of the nation as a woman.

In this commentary I elaborate on the dynamic interrelation between individual and social change, looking at the process by which each influences the other. Through the different case studies presented in this book, I draw up several central processes and resources that individuals and groups resort to in times of personal and collective change. The chapter’s structure will flow from experiencing change at the personal level in one’s own life trajectory and the meaning-making processes individuals engage in to adapt to change. To then looking at experiencing change as a community and the process by which individual trajectories become part of a collective, through emerging new social identity groups engaging in a collective meaning-making process. To finally looking at how those individuals and groups experiencing change attempt to bring about change in the bigger society, looking at minority influence and processes of public intervention.

Protests and social upheavals are complex phenomena that are hard to predict in advance but, in hindsight, lead us to ask what factors led people to protest. Even in stable authoritarian re- gimes with no visible opposition, there are always hidden, ev- eryday forms of resistance to power that can, under the right conditions, transform into open rebellion (Bayat 2013; Scott 1990). When do those hidden transcripts of dissatisfaction float to the surface and mobilize anger and action?

This chapter discusses the role of imagination as a higher mental function that facilitates coping in disempowering social settings. It builds on Carlos Cornejo’s (this volume) account on the cultural history of imagination and the development of the concept from that of delusion to that of reason and intellect. The focus will be on how imagination is essential to humans’ adaptation through the life course, looking at the capacity to temporarily disengage from what is and imagine what might be and its implication on coping and resilience. The topic will be discussed using empirical data from the social context of Egypt post 2011 revolution looking at how imagination is expressed in letters written by political prisoners.

Introducing psychology to first year students comes with its own challenges of presenting it in a clear introductory manner, yet also triggering students to think critically about the theories they are presented with. If we were to think of social psychology as a discipline that mutually influences and is influenced by contemporary socio-political contexts, then we need to introduce the science as not only studying how individuals are inclined to adapt, conform, and assimilate to the world as is, but also how and under which conditions individuals are agents for social change. I will discuss challenges relating to applying classical theories to contemporary issues and suggestions for what could be incorporated.

This chapter looks at the capacity of communities to come together in times of rupture, and imagine a collective future that promises better living conditions to their present challenges.. We will address the process by which individuals assembled beyond the Egyptian uprising in 2011 and experimented with their aspired social change. Looking specifically at three case studies of cooperatives that came out of the protests.The case studies will be used to illustrate the role of imagination in bridging the gap between how society actually works from one side and its potential on the other. The cases are also used to highlight the potential of cooperatives in opening up venues for decentralized every day forms of resistance and social change.

This thesis looks at visual images as psychological and political tools for social action. Social actors produce images to represent and propagate particular versions of social reality. These images are in turn interpreted, transformed, reconstructed, and destroyed by other social actors in a continuous process of negotiating social reality and the power of representing it in the public space.

Introducing psychology to first year students comes with its own challenges of presenting it in a clear introductory manner, yet also triggering students to think critically about the theories they are presented with. If we were to think of social psychology as a discipline that mutually influences and is influenced by contemporary socio-political contexts, then we need to introduce the science as not only studying how individuals are inclined to adapt, conform, and assimilate to the world as is, but also how and under which conditions individuals are agents for social change. I will discuss challenges relating to applying classical theories to contemporary issues and suggestions for what could be incorporated.